New 2010 Season Ticket Video

Change the date of the Alabama game? "They have not contacted us..."

If Alabama does wish to ultimately change the date of this season's Nov. 20 game against Georgia State, it can't be very far along in the process.

The topic, for instance, is news to Georgia State.

As of today, Alabama had not reached out to Georgia State about the possibility of moving the game, according to Allison George, GSU associate athletics director for communications.

"They have not contacted us," George said. "We have not gotten any request to move the game from the University of Alabama."


Link: http://blog.al.com/bamabeat/2010/04/georgia_state_says_no_word_fro.html



My take: The talk was to potentially move it to Thursday night but that's unlikely with the Tide coming off a Saturday date with Mississippi State. A whole lot of fuss over a game with a 1st year program.  I love the fact that we are getting mentions in April for a game in November.  Any publicity right now with opponents is great publicity.  This is exactly why this game was scheduled.

Spring Football Awards

Best Offensive Performer:
 Ben Jacoby, Center

Best Defensive Performer:
 Jake Muasau, Outside Linebacker

Most Improved, Offense:
 Emmanuel Ogbuehi, Tight End

Most Improved, Defense:
 Brent McClendon, Cornerback

Offensive Hustle:
 Kalan Jenkins, Tight End

Defensive Hustle:
 Austen Wiley, Defensive End

Offensive Dominator:
 Emmanuel Ogbuehi, Tight End

Defensive Dominator:
 Deron Jordan, Noseguard

Team Leadership Award, Offense:
 Rosevelt Watson, Running Back

Team Leadership Award, Defense:
 Brandon Jones, Safety

Head Coach's Award:
 Sam Burkhalter, Running Back
 Sidney Haynes, Wide Receiver
 

Link: http://www.georgiastatesports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=12700&atclid=204938613

My take: These guys will all likely be key contributors come September.  Get to know these guys well.

Rivals.com names 2000-01 Men's Bball A-Sun Team of the Decade

TEAM OF THE DECADE: Georgia State, 2000-01. The Atlantic Sun was known as the Trans-America Athletic Conference back then, and the Lefty Driesell-coached Panthers rolled to a 16-2 conference mark, winning the regular-season title by four games. They then won three league tournament games by an average of 24.3 points and earned a No. 11 seed in the NCAA tournament. The run-and-fun Panthers were matched up with a plodding Wisconsin team in the first round and still pulled the upset, 50-49, before falling in the second round to Maryland (which advanced to the Final Four).

Link: http://collegebasketball.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1077816

Josh Micheax signs with the Panthers

To take the words from my man Saint, "this one came out of no where..."

From Georgiastatesports.com:
The 6-6, 220-pound Micheaux (pronounced MEE-shaw), becomes the sixth member of Georgia State's 2009-10 signing class.

He averaged 11.0 points, 5.7 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 2.6 steals in 2009-10 for coach Roy Champagne at Lee College in Baytown, Texas. He was named all-conference in each of his two seasons at Lee.

"Josh is a big wing who is long and athletic," said Barnes, whose squad graduates six seniors. "He's a great defender, he can handle the ball, he can score and he rebounds well for his position. He will give us a lot of versatility."

Micheaux, who will have two seasons of eligibility at Georgia State, graduated from Elkins High in Missouri City, Texas, where he was a two-time all-district selection.

My take: Wave goodbye to Dante Curry

Eric Buckner and Brandon McGee Sign LOI

Eric Buckner made it official

6'10 Eric Buckner and 6'7 Brandon McGee sign with the men's basketball team officially on Wednesday.

Link: http://www.georgiastatesports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=53527&SPID=5655&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=12700&atclid=204928503

New Women's Basketball Coach: Links and Small Peek Ahead

New Women's Hoops Coach Sharon Baldwin-Tener

ECU Perspective: High Praise: http://bonesville.net/Articles/WoodyPeele/2010/04/041710_Peele.htm

From the AJC Story:
However, she said she was taken by Levick's energy and plans to develop the basketball facilities, including a renovation of the arena, new offices and a practice facility.


Levick gave the proviso that funds have to be available for the plans to go through.

Link: http://www.ajc.com/sports/new-gsu-womens-coach-468446.html?cxtype=rss_news_128746

Spring Scrimmage Highlights

Link: http://www.georgiastatesports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=12700&atclid=204927198

Men's Basketball: Brandon McGee verbally commits

From my man Saint:

6'8, 230 pound big man Brandon McGee committed to Rod Barnes and GSU today. 

He played for Wabash Valey C.C. and is the 6th D1 commit from this years team (they went 28-5) .

Here are his stats from this year: http://www.njcaa.org/colleges_colleg...hleteid=268798

He averaged 14 points and 5.8 boards a game and shot 39% from 3-point land.

Here are some video highlights of his game: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_CGV9gwG3Q

He was well-regarded out of HS as the #27 PF and a 4-star in the class of 2007 according to Scout and the #34 PF and #116 overall in the 2007 Rivals150 as a 3-star recruit. He verballed to Kelvin Sampson at Indiana before all the violations and sanctions wrecked the Hoosier program and chose them over offers from DePaul and Iowa.

McGee picked State over interest from Wright State, Murray State, and St. Bonaventure.

Rivals.com Link: http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/recruiting/player-Brandon-McGee-106957

My Impressions of the Spring Game

Kelton Hill took a huge step forward to grabbing the starting QB nod

I took my wife, daughter, parents and a good friend of mine to the Georgia Dome today to watch the Blue-White scrimmage.  I truly was impressed at the Dome.  The crowd turnout was fantastic
(more than 3100) considering the complete lack of promotion by our athletic department.  Here's my thoughts on today.

The Good:
-Bo Schlecter and Kelton Hill made very good throws.  I believe they lept to the forefront ahead of Drew Little.  Kelton is a very confident kid.

"“I think I’ve got the lead so far,” Hill said. (http://www.ajc.com/sports/curry-pleased-with-panthers-452426.html)

-Sidney Haynes is a legitimate highlight reel player.  This guy makes special plays.  He runs good routes and was the receipent of the 54 yard bomb from Hill in the 3rd quarter.
-The defensive ends performed very well.  Evan Bostic and Austin Wiley played in the backfield all day.
-The tight end is a definite focus of the offense.  Multiple spread sets and will allow the QB escape as I believe...

The Bad:
-Our offensive line will be our biggest weakness heading into fall practice.  Not exactly too much of a shock considering this is the one position on the field that requires the most chemistry and time to develop.
-Our secondary needs work.  Other than Brent McClendon's pass break up and Brandon Jones' huge hit on Emmanuel Ogbuehi, there were very few plays made in the secondary.

The Ugly:

-The Gameday Atmosphere: The band played pretty much the same music they play during basketball games.  This was your last chance to incite the more than 3100 fans with some great new music.  The public address announcer had some very weak moments (I'll admit extreme bias there as my favorite PA announcer was not asked to call the game) and there was a great opportunity to teach our fans how to be Panther fans.  This is a huge opportunity and we will not be able to impress the fan base again before August.

Jordan Demercy transfers to Georgia State

Former Norcross standout and Florida State reserve has transferred to Georgia State to finish his career.  His career averages are less than impressive and I'm not sure that we benefit much other than gaining a player that has played more than 87 career games.  He will redshirt in 2010-11 and will be a RS Senior in 2011-12.

Muasau brothers getting big time love

Link: http://www.ajc.com/sports/muasau-brothers-make-strong-432823.html